Fresh peach flavor additive composition and method of enhancing the flavor of freeze-dehydrated peaches

ABSTRACT

A composition of matter consisting essentially of gamma decalactone and cis-3-hexene-1-o1 for addition to freezedehydrated peaches during reconstitution thereof to enhance the flavor of the reconstituted peaches, method of enhancing the flavor of reconstituted freeze-dehydrated peaches by addition of said composition to freeze-dehydrated peaches during the reconstitution thereof, and reconstituted freeze-dehydrated peaches having substantially the flavor of fresh peach prepared in accordance with said method.

United States Patent represented by the Secretary of the Army FRESH PEACH FLAVOR ADDITIVE COMPOSITION AND METHOD OF ENHANCING THE FLAVOR OF FREEZE-DEHYDRATED PEACHES 4 Claims, No Drawings [52] [1.8. CI 99/140 R, 99/204 [51] Int. Cl A231 1126 [50] Field of Search 99/ 140, 204, 140 R [5 6] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,51 1,668 5/1970 Vollink 99/204 X OTHER REFERENCES W. G. Jennings, .1. Food Sci, 29, 796- 801 (1964). CA. 64: 13293e (1966).

Symposium on Foods: The Chemistry and Physiology of Flavor, H. W. Schultz, ed., Chapt. 19 W. G. Jennings, 419-- 430, The Avi Publishing Co., lnc.,

Westport, Conn., 1967.

Primary Examiner-Morris O. Wolk Assistant Examiner-Sidney Marantz Attorneys-Harry M. Saragovitz, Edward J. Kelly, Herbert Berl and Charles F. Murphy ABSTRACT: A composition of matter consisting essentially of 'y-decalactone and cis-3-hexene-l-ol for addition to freezedehydrated peaches during reconstitution thereof to enhance the flavor of the reconstituted peaches, method of enhancing FRESH PEACH FLAVOR ADDITIVE COMPOSITION AND METHOD OF ENHANCING THE FLAVOR F FREEZE- DEHYDRATED PEACHES The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to me of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates to a method of enhancing the flavor of reconstituted freeze-dehydrated peaches and to a composition of matter to be added to the peaches during reconstitution thereof or at any other suitable time to overcome the loss of flavor that occurs during the freeze dehydration.

When a fruit is freeze-dehydrated for the purpose of preserving it, there is inevitably some loss of volatile flavor components. Consequently, the freeze-dehydrated fruit product, upon being reconstituted by the addition of water thereto, does not have as desirable flavor as the fresh fruit has.

An object of the present invention is to provide a method of enhancing the flavor of freeze-dehydrated peaches to make the reconstituted peaches taste substantially like fresh peaches.

Another object of the invention is to provide a composition of matter which when added to freeze-dehydrated peaches results in a reconstituted peach product which has taste characteristics substantially like fresh peaches.

Other objects and advantages will appear from the following description of the invention, and the novel features will be particularly pointed out hereinafter in connection with the appended claims.

The objects of the invention are accomplished by preparing a mixture comprising flavor additives in the approximate ratios shown in table 1 and adding a preselected quantity of such a mixture to freeze-dehydrated peaches together with water during the reconstitution of the peaches.

TABLE 1 Composition of Flavor Additive Mixture The preferred composition of the flavor additive mixture and the preferred concentration of the flavor additive ingredients in reconstituted peaches prepared in accordance with the invention are shown in table 2.

TABLE 2 The flavor additive mixture, for convenience in adding it to the freeze-dehydrated peaches, may be encapsulated in an edible encapsulating material, for example according to methods such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,015,128. such capsules may be from about 1 micron to about 8,000 microns in diameter. Gelatin is one of the more commonly employed edible encapsulating materials.

The mixture of flavor additives may be prepackaged in encapsulated form with the freeze-dehydrated peaches in the desired proportions so that, when water or an aqueous solution of sugar or other sweetening agent is added to the freezedehydrated peaches in the desired proportion, a reconstituted peach product is obtained after predetermined time is allowed for rehydration of the peaches to occur, the reconstituted peach product having a flavor very closely approximating that of fresh peaches and much more desirable than that of reconstituted freeze-dehydrated peaches to which no flavor additive has been added.

The flavor additive mixture may be added as a solution thereof in ethanol to the water or the aqueous solution of sugar or other sweetening agent used for reconstituting peaches prior to mixing the latter with the freeze-dehydrated peaches, if desired. In this case, the flavor additive mixture will be in liquid form and does not need to be encapsulated. However, only very minute quantities of the flavor additive mixture are required to impart a desirable degree of flavor enhancement to the reconstituted peaches. Hence, it is necessary to have a suitable method for measuring the flavor additive mixture to be admixed; and this will be difficult for small quantities of freeze-dehydrated peaches in field rations if the flavor additive mixture is in liquid form.

Concerning the quantity of flavor additive mixture to be used, it has been pointed out above that only minute quantities are required to impart a substantially fresh fruit flavor to the reconstituted peaches. It is, of course, understood that flavor sensitivity varies from person to person such that the optimum concentration of flavor additive in reconstituted peaches for one person may be too great for another person and too small for yet another person. Table 2 shows the concentration, in parts per million, of the two flavor ingredients, based on the reconstituted weight of freeze-dehydrated peaches, which has been found to be generally desirable. However, these concentrations may vary as much as :50 and still produce a quite acceptable reconstituted peach product. In general, more than a 50 percent increase in the concentration of the flavor additive mixture in the reconstituted peaches would be very wasteful since such a concentration would greatly exceed that required to impart a substantially fresh peach flavor to the reconstituted freeze-dehydrated peaches.

In reconstituting freeze-dehydrated peaches, it is customary to employ ratios of water: sugar: freeze-dehydrated peaches of about 5.0:0.2: l .0 parts by weight, respectively, although these ratios may also be varied considerably according to the tastes of those who are going to eat the reconstituted peaches, and according to the desired texture of the reconstituted peach product, It is, of course, undesirable to employ too high a proportion of water relative to the other ingredients as this will result in too great a dilution of the peach flavor components and of the sugar. Too little water will result in slow and perhaps incomplete reconstitution of the freeze-dehydrated peaches.

Having described our invention in general terms, we will now provide a detailed example of the invention, which is for the purpose of illustration and not for limitation of the invention.

EXAMPLE 1 To 1 pound of freeze-dehydrated peach slices is added a syrup made by mixing with 5.0 pounds of water 0.2 pound of sugar and a precalculated quantity of an ethanol solution of a flavor additive mixture sufficient to incorporate in the reconstituted peaches 10 parts per million concentrations of both 'ydecalactone and cis-3-hexen-l-ol, the concentrations being based on the reconstituted weight of the peaches. The syrup was left in contact with the peach slices, with occasional stirring, until substantially all of the syrup was absorbed in the peaches (about 30 minutes).

Another sample of 1 pound of freeze-dehydrated peach slices was treated with a syrup made by mixing 0.2 pound of sugar with 5.0 pounds of water only and occasionally stirring the mixture until substantially all of the syrup was absorbed in the sliced peaches (about 30 minutes).

The reconstituted freeze-dehydrated peach slices containing the flavor additive mixture were compared with the reconstituted freeze-dehydrated peach slices which were reconstituted with sugar and water syrup only by a taste panel composed of four carefully selected experts in organoleptic discrimination. Every member of the taste panel selected the reconstituted peach slices containing the flavor additive mixture as having a flavor more closely approximating that of fresh peaches and as being more desirable than the reconstituted peach slices to which no flavor additive had been added during reconstitution thereof.

Other methods of incorporating the flavor additive mixture in the freeze-dehydrated peaches may be employed. The flavor additive mixture dissolved in ethanol may be sprayed on the surface of the freeze-dehydrated sliced peaches or it may be sprayed on the peach slices prior to freeze-dehydration thereof. It may also be incorporated in an edible water-soluble film, which may be cut into strips and added to the sugar and water syrup in the amount needed for enhancement of the flavor of the reconstituted peaches. Sodium carboxymethyl cellulose is quite suitable for such use. This method facilitates measurement of the quantity needed since it will be easy to determine the area of film needed for a given quantity of freeze'dehydrated peach slices and given amounts of water and sugar. A most important requirement is that the flavor additive mixture be distributed throughout the reconstituted freeze-dehydrated peaches as uniformly as possible in the proportions indicated above. if it is added to the peaches prior to freeze dehydration thereof, it will probably need to be added in larger proportions than indicated above to compensate for any losses which may occur due to volatilization of some of the ingredients of the flavor additive mixture during freeze dehydration thereof.

The flavor additive mixture of the invention is very useful for improving the acceptability of freeze-dehydrated peaches. it may also be used for imparting a peachlike flavor to other foods. For example, jams, preserves, or jellies can be made from other fruits, or might even be made from bland vegetable materials, and flavored to taste very similar to fresh peaches by adding a suitable quantity of the flavor additive mixture of the invention to the jam, preserve, or jelly. Apple jelly, for example, normally does not have a very strong flavor of its own and its flavor could, therefore, be easily masked by the addition of the peachlike flavor additive mixture of the invention thereto. Also, the flavor additive mixture dispersed throughout on edible water-soluble film can be used as a component of sandwiches to impart peachlike flavor thereto. For example, a peanut butter sandwich having an edible watersoluble film containing the peachlike flavor additive mixture laid on the peanut butter would provide desirable variety in peanut butter sandwiches, which conventionally are often made with jelly of some flavor desired by the consumer. The edible film containing the flavor additive mixture may be finely ground and the resulting powder or granules may be sprinkled on foods to impart varying amounts of peachlike flavor thereto. Another use of the flavor additive mixture of the invention is in the form of an edible coating to which the flavor additive mixture has been added prior to coating bite size foods or food bars such as are used by the Armed Forces and for space flights. Gelatin coatings or other edible coatings for such foods may thus be made to taste similar to fresh peaches by adding the flavor additive mixture thereto.

We wish it to be understood that we do not desire to be limited to the exact details described, for obvious modifications will occur to a person skilled in the art.

We claim:

1. Method of enhancing the flavor of freeze-dehydrated peach on reconstitution thereof which comprises the step of adding to said freeze-dehydrated peach an amount of a flavor additive mixture sufficient to impart to said freeze-dehydrated peach on reconstitution thereof substantially the flavor of fresh peach, said flavor additive mixture consisting essentially of 'y-decalactone and cis-3-hexen- 1 -0l.

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein said 'y-decalactone and cis-3-hexen-l-ol are present in said flavor additive mixture in the ratio by weight of about 5025i).

3. Reconstituted freeze-dehydrated peach having substantially the flavor of fresh peach prepared according to the method of claim 1.

4. A peachlike flavor additive mixture consisting essentially of the following composition by weight:

40 to 60 parts 60 to 40 parts UNITED STATES PATENT oTTTcE CFER'HFICATE GP CORRECHON Patent No. 5 M Dated January 11, 1972 John W. Rhoades', James W; Register, Jr. John D. Miller Inventor(s) It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 1, Table 1, after heading "Composition of Flavor Additive Mixture", should appear as follows:

Flavor Additive Parts by Weight fdecalactone M0 to 60 cis-3-hexen-l-ol 60 to +0 Table 2, should appear as follows:

Preferred Composition of Flavor Additive and Preferred Concentration in Reconstituted Peaches Flavor Composition Concentration in (Parts by Weight) Reconstituted Peaches Based on Reconstituted Weight of Peaches (p.p.m.

V-decalactone 5O 7 10 I cis-3-hexene-l-ol 5O 10 Column 3, line 24, 'on" should read an Column line 30,

"y decalacetone" should read Y decalactone Signed and sealed this 26th day of December 1972.

(SEAL) Attest: I

EDWARD M-FT.H:PCH'P1R .TF? RT TTSCHALK Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents FORM PO-OSO (10-69) USCOMM DC 603764269 us. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: I969 0-366-334 

2. Method according to claim 1, wherein said gamma -decalactone and cis-3-hexen-1-ol are present in said flavor additive mixture in the ratio by weight of about 50:50.
 3. Reconstituted freeze-dehydrated peach having substantially the flavor of fresh peach prepared according to the method of claim
 1. 4. A peachlike flavor additive mixture consisting essentially of the following composition by weight: gamma -decalacetone 40 to 60 parts cis-3-hexen-1-o1 60 to 40 parts 